LIVERMORE — On a list of the most revolting things ever witnessed by unsuspecting animal lovers right before breakfast, Troy Smith’s story probably would rank pretty high.

Smith, who lives on Oakmont Circle in Springtown, had been standing outside his house about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 23 when he noticed two dogs scuffling across the street.

“I see these two black pit bulls shredding what to me looked like a pillow from a couch. I see this white stuffing flying,” he said.

A wave of nausea washed over him when he realized, upon hearing a tortured yowling sound, that the “pillow” actually was his neighbor’s cat.

“That white stuffing wasn’t stuffing — it was cat fur,” said Smith, who watched in horror as the dogs tore at Amy Carpenter’s cat, Ashes, in an apparent game of tug of war.

After yelling from afar and evoking no response from the dogs, Smith moved closer and hollered at them to stop. They obeyed, dropping the injured animal as Smith dialed 911. The dogs then followed Smith to his yard, tails wagging, he said.

Smith said he watched helplessly as the dogs circled back to Ashes, who was attempting to crawl despite having a broken back.

“This poor cat was barely breathing. “… They picked it up and started violently shaking it all over again.”

By the time animal control officers arrived, Ashes was dead, her fur and intestines spread across Carpenter’s frontyard.

“I’ve been the first responder on car wrecks, I’ve helped out at accidents “… but this was the grossest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Smith said.

Carpenter, who had been inside her house and didn’t see or hear the attack, came outside seconds later and learned what had happened.

“I just can’t stop crying. It all happened so quickly,” she said in a phone interview.

Ashes, a grayish cat who found her way to Carpenter’s porch in 2003 after neighbors abandoned her, never left the frontyard, Carpenter said. She weighed just 9 pounds at first but grew to 12 pounds.

“She was living the good life here,” Carpenter said. “She was a home cat. She just appreciated being here, being a lazy cat and enjoying life.

Carpenter and others say they are horrified by the behavior of the pit bulls, who police suspect may have killed two other domestic cats in the neighborhood the same morning.

It is unclear how they escaped from their yard, said Livermore police Lt. Lance Bye.

Their owner, Erick Schultz of nearby Broadmoor Street, is considering surrendering one of the dogs that he believes is prone to escaping, according to police reports.

Schultz, who could not be reached for comment, was issued two separate citations under the city code that pertains to animals — one citation for the dogs’ unleashed run through the neighborhood and another for “attacking or interfering with another person or animals,” Bye said.

No one answered the door at Schultz’s house Thursday, and messages left at the number listed for him were not returned.

In addition, Schultz’s dogs — a female and a male — were deemed “potentially dangerous.” The designation will require him to keep the dogs behind a padlocked gate at all times, to post warning signs on his property, and to spay and neuter the animals. The dogs will be forbidden to be off their leashes in any public place, including a dog park, Bye said.

For dogs living in Livermore, it’s two strikes and you’re out, Bye said.

If a dog that has already been deemed potentially dangerous is involved in another attack on a person or animal, it is declared vicious. Once that happens, the dog must either leave the city or be euthanized, Bye said.

Tragic and unpleasant as fights between animals may be, they are relatively common, he said.

Last year in Livermore, 16 dogs were designated potentially dangerous, while in 2008, 20 were given the designation. On the other hand, it is rare that a dog is declared vicious, according to police data.

Only one dog in the city was declared vicious in 2009, and only two the year before that.

“If nothing else, this just serves as yet another reminder that dog ownership is not to be taken lightly,” Bye said. “Some people just look at the having-a-pet aspect of it and they don’t realize these animals can be dangerous.”

In addition to the potential for harm to people and other animals, “there’s a significant amount of civil liability that can be incurred,” he said, adding, “Dog bites are not cheap to dog owners.”